recommendations for wireless surround sound headphone

Spon Farmer

Hello,

I currently use Sony stereo bluetooth headphones with my AppleTV.

I'll be buying a 4K TV and xBox One soon and I want to move on to better audio.

I thought that the best headphones could get was visual surround sound but I have been reading about "true" surround sound headphones with 5.1 / 7.1 audio,

Can you folks throw a few recommendations my way?

They need to be wireless and over ear and my priority is to get the best sound possible for movies on AppleTV and blu-ray (via the xBox One). Are gaming headphones always just as good for watching movies?

Cheers

Astro A50 are a nice pair to look at. Expensive but.

Spon Farmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Astro A50 are a nice pair to look at. Expensive but.

Thank you. I'll check them out.

Frunchy

Hi,
I'd strongly advise you to away from any "gaming" headphones. Terribly overpriced and bad audio quality in general. More money spent on marketing than actual development. This a general consensus from headphone enthusiasts.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/8gvv5v/are_gaming_headsets_that_bad/

Astro headsets are absolute rubbish, you can get much better sound while paying less.

If you're dead set on "gaming" headphones, then the HyperX Cloud series are the only ones with decent audio quality as they are basically a rebranded Takstar Pro 80, a really good pair of headphones in their own right. The Cloud 2 will give you 7.1 surround sound too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/8ldpr0/thoughts_on_hyperx_cloud_ii/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-Cloud-Gaming-Headset-Mobile/dp/B00SAYCXWG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1541707855&sr=8-2&keywords=hyperx+cloud+2



Honestly, best place to get proper advice is https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/ or https://www.head-fi.org/forums/
You'll get lots of advice over there, regardless of your budget.

I have a set of Astro A50's and they sound amazing. Granted they are more expensive than the Cloud's but to say Astro's are rubbish is nonsense. They also blow the Cloud's away in the audio department.

Frunchy

Deleted User wrote: »

I have a set of Astro A50's and they sound amazing. Granted they are more expensive than the Cloud's but to say Astro's are rubbish is nonsense. They also blow the Cloud's away in the audio department.

You'd have to be absolutely mad to spend that much money on the A50. You could get audiophile headphones like the X2 or K712 for that money.



Cloud 2 are better since they're a rebranding of the Takstar Pro 80. Look at the reviews from the enthusiasts. Hyper X had no involvement in the design themselves, which is ironically why they sound so good for the price.



Most gaming comanies target gamers with no experience with real headphones.

Frunchy

I've had a pair of Cloud II's in the past and they are nowhere near as good as the new A50's.
Anyway, the OP is looking for a wireless pair. Also, i'd class myself as an enthusiast aswell having quite a collection of headphones which is growing.

OP, do a good bit of research before making a decision what's best for you.

Spon Farmer

Frunchy wrote: »

....If you're dead set on "gaming" headphones, ......

I'm not dead set on anything.

As I said my priority is for movies. I was asking if gaming headphones are good for movies too.

Spon Farmer

Frunchy wrote: »

You'd have to be absolutely mad to spend that much money on the A50. You could get audiophile headphones like the X2 or K712 for that money.



Cloud 2 are better since they're a rebranding of the Takstar Pro 80. Look at the reviews from the enthusiasts. Hyper X had no involvement in the design themselves, which is ironically why they sound so good for the price.



Most gaming comanies target gamers with no experience with real headphones.

What do you mean by audiophile headphones? Bang & Olfason, Bose, etc. ?

Spon Farmer

Deleted User wrote: »

I've had a pair of Cloud II's in the past and they are nowhere near as good as the new A50's.
Anyway, the OP is looking for a wireless pair. Also, i'd class myself as an enthusiast aswell having quite a collection of headphones which is growing.

OP, do a good bit of research before making a decision what's best for you.

I am. This thread is a part of it.;)

Audiophile headphone's would be the high end sets like the one's you have listed. Not everyone's hearing is the same so what might be good to you might not sound good to other's.

Also, you will not be able to get a wireless pair of headphone's like you might pick up on Amazon to work with game consoles unless they're marketed as working with them.
For example, if you picked up Sony 1000xm2's they will not work with a Playstation 4.

Spon Farmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Audiophile headphone's would be the high end sets like the one's you have listed. Not everyone's hearing is the same so what might be good to you might not sound good to other's.

Also, you will not be able to get a wireless pair of headphone's like you might pick up on Amazon to work with game consoles unless they're marketed as working with them.
For example, if you picked up Sony 1000xm2's they will not work with a Playstation 4.

Are you talking about working directly with a console?

It is my intent to have the headphones transmitter connected to the TV and the surround sound from all devices will come through there.

I have seen on reviews that some headphones will only work with "such-and-such" console but I don't understand how a high end set might simply just not pick up the sound from a console.

There are not many sets that will work wireless with tv's. The Astros definitely won't. I thought you were going to be connecting them to the Xbox. I know Sennheiser have a set that connect to tv's. I think Argos might have them.

Spon Farmer

Deleted User wrote: »

There are not many sets that will work wireless with tv's. The Astros definitely won't.

Are you talking about wireless gaming headphones or wireless headphones in general?

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought you were going to be connecting them to the Xbox. I know Sennheiser have a set that connect to tv's. I think Argos might have them.

As I said in the original post I'd be using them with AppleTV and xBox. I meant that I would be hooking the transmitter to the TV so I would have to be swapping the transmitter between the two boxes. I should have made that clear so sorry for any confusion.

Both gaming one's and non gaming one's won't pair with a tv. The Astro A50's have a receiver that you hook up to the Xbox.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5014400/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C14419512/c_2/3%7Ccat_50000616%7CHeadphones+and+earphones%7C50000617.htm

There's the Sennheiser's that should work with a tv.

Spon Farmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Both gaming one's and non gaming one's won't pair with a tv. The Astro A50's have a receiver that you hook up to the Xbox.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5014400/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C14419512/c_2/3%7Ccat_50000616%7CHeadphones+and+earphones%7C50000617.htm

There's the Sennheiser's that should work with a tv.

Wireless headphones don't need to paired with a device. They come with a transmitter that is connect to the device, TV included.

If a TV can transmit the audio from an Xbox or other device through it's own speakers then there is no reason why it can't interact with the transmitter of wireless headphones.

Before starting this thread, the SteelSeries Siberia 840 had caught my eye because it was wireless & bluetooth and SteelSeries support had confirmed it works with AppleTV and xBox via the TV.

Spon Farmer

A few days ago I was watching Van Helsing on my AppleTV with my Sony Bluetooth Headphones.

There was scenes in a large room where two characters where talking quietly and in the distance in another room people are shouting. One of the guys loses his temper, throws a chair and starts growling. The impact of the chair was barely noticeable and the volume of the growl was much too low.

I played back the scene without the headphones and the clatter of the chair was not only loud but there was an echo, the growl was much higher and the shouting in the background was also louder.

I've also experienced explosions, gunshots and other sound effects are too low. I never have the opportunity to test without the headphones though.

I'd be happy with good stereo headphones that capture the proper volume and sound effects but if I paying a lot I want as close to surround sound as I can get.

It is very hard to judge from reviews on tech sites and connected comments. Some people think you can't beat stereo, some think virtual surround sound crushes "true surround sound". And then even in the categories of stereo, virtual and true not all headphones sound the same.

Tbh, I prefer stereo through headphones and not virtual surround. I do enjoy my Logitech Z906 surround speakers when not using headphones though while gaming.

_CreeD_

https://www.sony.ie/electronics/headband-headphones/mdr-hw700ds

The last post I did on them with more detail.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=107841958

Tl;DR - High Quality, zero latency, wireless with it's own base-station decoder that simply sits as a shim in your HDMI from source to the TV so you don't need any wireless capabilities on the source.

As for virtualised surround vs. Stereo vs. Discrete drivers I lean towards virtualised, but there is a big different between different algorithms and it's not just a matter of universal quality. By their nature the HRTFs involved are simply a model they expect to match the most listeners, everyone's actual HRTF is different as is your hearing quality and response). So while there is a general difference in quality among plugins and algorithms it doesn't mean the globally accepted best will actually work best for you. On the XBOX and TV's you are more limited but from a PC you can, and should, try many. My favourite would be the WavesNX on the PC with the surround from the hw700s next, there are some headphones starting to appear incorporating the WavesNX function so they might be another option. So why not discrete drivers? Headphones are simply too small to make them work properly, the drivers end up so close together and so close to your ear canal that the advantage they should hold in allowing your natural HRTF to work is lost imho.

thejaguar

I've a pair of Sennheiser RS175's

https://en-ie.sennheiser.com/rs-175

I find them great. The box is a bit chunky but that's hidden away behind the TV.

I'm definitely not an audiophile but as I say I like them.

(Also - my 3 year old uses them whenever the hoover is on - she thinks they're great too although I get a little nervous about that particular habit...)

Frunchy

If you want to do research, head over to https://www.head-fi.org/ or https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones.

Won't cost you anything and you'll get loads of advice from audiophiles.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeosReviews/featured is worth looking at too, he's got lots of entertaining headphone reviews.

Boards.ie is just too small and generalised to get many responses about niche topics like audio equipment.

_CreeD_

Frunchy wrote: »

Won't cost you anything and you'll get loads of advice from audiophiles.
...
Boards.ie is just too small and generalised to get many responses about niche topics like audio equipment.

Other than the multitude of recommendations already given you mean? :rolleyes:

And for what it's worth wireless headphones are not really considered audiophile level, even with custom lossless wifi no manufacturer spends enough resources on a high quality DAC, let alone the base driver quality - it's just not their focus when they need to include batteries/radio/DAC/Amp beyond standard Can components and limit interference while making it light and portable at the same time.... Very convenient, definite clear tiers of quality and I really value mine for Movies, but not a patch on true high end wired models.

Frunchy

_CreeD_ wrote: »

Other than the multitude of recommendations already given you mean? :rolleyes:

When people are recommending Astro headphones, then yes I'd consider that a sign that this a bad place to get headphone advice.

HeSuVi is better than your "Recommended Headphone surround plugin" by the way and it's completely free too.

Have you ever used a pair of the latest A50's? You might be surprised.

Frunchy

Deleted User wrote: »

Have you ever used a pair of the latest A50's? You might be surprised.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/8mmgnm/astro_a50_gen_3_really_worth_the_300_price_tag/


https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/388ws3/do_not_buy_astro_a50/


https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astro-a50-gen-1-vs-razer-manowar-wireless-7-1.852984/

Yea Reddit. Home of the internet whinger. I'll take it from that that you haven't. OP, hope you get sorted.

Spon Farmer

Everybody please be nice.

This thread is about me, not you.:D